ACLU steps into the RHS prayer debate

Thursday

Sep 12, 2013 at 2:50 AMSep 12, 2013 at 2:53 AM

ASHEBORO — When Randolph County School Board of Education Chair Tommy McDonald received an ACLU booklet on Constitutional law and school on or about Aug. 20, it didn't come directly from the organization. The letter the school system received on Sept. 6 did.

ASHEBORO — When Randolph County School Board of Education Chair Tommy McDonald received an ACLU booklet on Constitutional law and school on or about Aug. 20, it didn’t come directly from the organization. The letter the school system received on Sept. 6 did.

McDonald has announced games at Randleman High School (RHS) for years. Each time, he would begin the program with a brief prayer asking for blessings and safety for the teams and the audience.

Chris Brook, ACLU legal director for the Raleigh office, said his organization did not instigate the initial contact with McDonald. He said each year, the ACLU distributes booklets on current interpretations of Constitutional law as it relates to schools, to school attorneys and government officials.

“Someone else must have sent it to him,” Brook said.

However, after news coverage of McDonald’s decision to offer a prayer over the PA system at the first football game of the season at Randleman High School on Aug. 23, Brook said his office received “multiple calls” complaining about the action. He did not assign a number to “multiple.” That prompted him to send the school system a letter on Sept. 6 titled, “RE.’ Unconstitutional Invocations at Randleman High School Fooîball Games.”

On that night McDonald, informed the audience over the public address system that he would not offer his traditional prayer. He asked the audience to join him in a moment of silence, instead.

Several people in the audience, at the prompting of a Facebook page-organized response, stood to recite the Lord’s prayer out loud. The sponsor of the Facebook page Randleman prays, who has declined to identify him or herself, is continuing efforts to get as many people as possible to join in the recitation at future events.

A rumor in the community was that Vintage Church, a local Wesleyan church that meets at Randleman Middle School, was preparing a prayer march that would end up at Friday night’s football game in time for the moment of silence.

An official at the church who asked not to be identified, said that rumor is not correct. The church hopes, at some point in the future, to host a prayer walk through the community. But the church is not involved in the current controversy, he said. The official also said the church is not affiliated with the Randleman prays Facebook page.

In his letter to the school system, Brook said McDonald’s “prayers have unfortunately excluded members of the Randleman High School community from an event that should bring the community together.” He reminded the school system, the U.S. Supreme Court has declared the practice of high school football pregame prayer unconstitutional.

He cited the case of Santa Fe Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Doe, where a school district authorized two student elections, one to determine whether there would be pregame prayer, and the second to select who would lead it. Most of the students favored having a prayer and picked two students to lead it. In his letter, Brook said the court declared the practice illegal, ruling that:

“Rather than protect minority views as the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment commands, the election guaranteed the marginalization of minority views. …. ln the Court’s words, ‘[s]chool sponsorship of a religious message is impermissible because it sends the ancillary message to members of the audience who are non-adherents ‘that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community, and an accompanying message to adherents that they are insiders, favored members of the political community.”’

Brook said that, even though football games are not mandatory, the court ruled that students can feel strong pressure to participate in this very American tradition. The court said students who don’t follow the espoused Christian beliefs are faced with “the choice between attending these games and avoiding personally offensive religious rituals.”

In his letter, Brook went on to say the prayers delivered by Randolph County Board of Education Chair McDonald at RHS football games are even more problematic than those previously deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court because “the prayers are delivered at a Randleman High School football game over school loudspeakers by the highest ranking school official in Randolph County. The government’s endorsement of these religious messages is thus plain.”

A call to school legal counsel, Jill Wilson, was not returned. Dr. Stephen Gainey, Randolph County Schools superintendent, said, in discussions with McDonald and Wilson, the decision was made that it would be in the best interest of the school to hold a moment of silence, not a prayer.

McDonald said he wants to be respectful of all the school community. A decision was made to hold a moment of silence and he “doesn’t have any more to say about it.”

Gainey said the focus needs to get back to what is important. That is the kids, he said. He said he has instructed RHS officials to stick to their core responsibility — providing a safe, positive experience for the kids.

“The more we focus on the game, the better off we are,” he said.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.